Juan Cruz Díaz
Long-running negotiations between the European Union and Mercosur, aimed at forming an Association Agreement and liberalising trade, have faced numerous hurdles. As the December deadline for signature approaches, doubts loom over the pact’s future, write Juan Cruz Díaz and Carlos José Cruz Infante Read more
Max-Otto Baumann
China’s presence in United Nations (UN) development work has expanded considerably. While this contributes to geopolitical rivalries with the West, Max-Otto Baumann and Sebastian Haug advocate examining the potential and risks of China’s take on the UN’s role, its cooperation priorities, and development philosophy Read more
Yuting He
As gender becomes an increasingly heated issue in China, He Yuting and Ruairidh Brown explore how the ‘female boxer’ has become a key disciplinary image in this struggle – and how it can be contested Read more
James F. Downes
James F. Downes, Mathew Wong and Man Hoo So argue that the European Union-China relationship has evolved considerably over recent years into a growing global rivalry in 2023. The EU has become more interventionist towards China, but there exist large divisions within the core EU institutions and member states towards relations with China Read more
Lars Pelke
Several liberal democracies view the People’s Republic of China no longer as a strategic partner, but as a systemic rival. Yet how intense is China’s influence? The China Index seeks to measure this influence across different domains. This is a welcome first step, but it is not without far-reaching flaws, write Lars Pelke and Katrin Kinzelbach Read more
Abhishek Sharma
The concept of an ‘Indo-Pacific’ region is gaining traction. More countries in and beyond the Indo-Pacific region are building closer relations—in opposition to China. Abhishek Sharma argues that North Korea sees opportunity in the region's changing power dynamics to position itself as China's ally Read more
Abbey Heffer
Authoritarian regimes are not centralised monoliths. In China, authoritarian responses to protest can differ dramatically across localities. Abbey Heffer argues that research on regime-level authoritarianism often overlooks decentralisation. Studying aspects of authoritarianism, such as protest repression and concessions, requires a practice-based approach that reconciles national and localised authoritarianism Read more
Paul Whiteley
Following COP27, Paul Whiteley explores public attitudes across the world to whether governments should prioritise growing the economy or resisting climate change. The findings across countries with different levels of economic development help explain the difficulties of finding common cause in the climate change challenge Read more
